I’ve been nominated for Clear Admit’s Best of Blogging award! I really should check the email account linked to this blog more often, since the email came almost a week ago. Congratulations to all the other nominees – I’m up against some pretty impressive competition so it’s an honor just to be included in the same list.

In school news, I’ve signed my lease on an apartment in Evanston, so that’s all set. I’ll be at 1500 Chicago next year, which is a pretty popular building among Kellogg students. The building is in a great location – just across the street from a small park and a few blocks from all the downtown bars and restaurants. Kellogg will be about a 15-20 minute walk. I’m pretty excited to get out there. A few other admitted students I know are moving at the start of August, and it’ll be great to be able to enjoy Evanston/Chicago without any work or school to worry about. Unfortunately still no progress on selling my current condo.

I also ordered and received my new laptop (I’m assuming my work will want their laptop back when I resign). I decided not to go with the Kellogg Laptop Program. While the prospect of having Kellogg IT repair any potential problem or replace the laptop was attractive, I just didn’t like the laptop model they were offering (a Lenovo ThinkPad T500). I’m sure it’s a great laptop, but it’s a full-size model so it’s kinda big and heavy. In the end, I chose a Lenovo ThinkPad X200, which is smaller and about 60% of the weight of the KLP laptop. I did spring for a 3 year onsite warranty and laptop protection plan (covers just about any damage that can occur, even drops and spilling liquid on the laptop) to replace the KLP repair service. I had a few ThinkPads at work, and they held up very well despite the abuse of a heavy travel schedule, so I don’t think repairs will be much of an issue though. So far, I love the X200. It feels very light and while it’s a compact laptop, the screen is still a good size and the keyboard is comfortable to use.